County of Oakland ex rel. Kuhn v. City of Detroit

776 F. Supp. 1211, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15668, 1991 WL 224211
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedOctober 24, 1991
DocketNo. 84-71068
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 776 F. Supp. 1211 (County of Oakland ex rel. Kuhn v. City of Detroit) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
County of Oakland ex rel. Kuhn v. City of Detroit, 776 F. Supp. 1211, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15668, 1991 WL 224211 (E.D. Mich. 1991).

Opinion

[1213]*1213MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTIONS FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

GADOLA, District Judge.

This case involves an allegedly fraudulent scheme to obtain one public contract for sewage disposal services without competitive bidding and to maintain and extend an earlier public contract on favorable terms without open price competition. This alleged fraudulent scheme caused damage to the Counties of Oakland and Macomb in the form of inflated prices the two counties paid for sewage disposal services. Oakland and Macomb seek to recover treble damages arising from defendants’ alleged price fixing, overcharges and monopolization of the sludge hauling industry under the federal .anti-trust and anti-racketeering laws. Plaintiffs have filed motions for partial summary judgment against defendants Charles Beckham, Darralyn Bowers, Sam Cusenza and Joseph Valentini.

BACKGROUND FACTS

On February 3, 1983, a special federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division, returned a multi-count indictment against defendants Charles Beckham, Darralyn Bowers, Sam Cusenza, Joseph Valentini and Michael Fer-rantino charging substantive and conspiratorial violations of RICO and mail fraud for activities connected with sludge and sewage hauling for the City of Detroit and the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (“DWSD”). The indictments additionally charged Beckham with violating the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1951, and charged Charles Carson with mail fraud. The resulting prosecutions are generally known as the Vista case.

The Vista prosecutions resulted in convictions against all of the defendants, either by jury verdict or through guilty plea. A jury found Beckham guilty of criminal RICO activity under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c), seven counts of Hobbs extortion under 18 U.S.C. § 1951, and four counts of mail fraud. A jury found Bowers guilty of criminal RICO activity under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c), criminal RICO conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) and four counts of mail fraud. A jury found Cusenza guilty of criminal RICO conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d). Cusenza later pleaded guilty to criminal RICO activity under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c). Valentini also pleaded guilty to criminal RICO conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d).

Oakland, and later Macomb, brought a complaint that closely tracks the Vista case. Oakland and Macomb generally allege that the defendants conspired to violate, and did violate, the anti-trust and anti-racketeering laws by excluding competition, illegally fixing the price of sludge hauling, monopolizing the sludge hauling industry, and imposing illegal overcharges. Specifically, plaintiffs state that they paid inflated prices for sewage disposal services due to the illegal activities of Beckham, Bowers, Cusenza and Valentini. Relying on Section 4 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1, and the civil provisions of RICO, 18 U.S.C. § 1961, Oakland and Macomb seek to recover their alleged damages three-fold, along with costs and attorneys’ fees.

Oakland has filed motions with this court seeking partial summary judgment, as to liability only, respecting Count V of its complaint against defendant Beckham, Counts VI and VII of its complaint against defendant Bowers, Counts VI and VII of its complaint against defendant Cusenza and Count VII of its complaint against defendant Valentini.

Macomb has also filed motions with this court seeking partial summary judgment, as to liability only, respecting Count V of its complaint against defendant Beckham, Counts VI and VII of its complaint against defendant Bowers, Counts VI and VII of its complaint against defendant Cusenza and Count VII of its complaint against defendant Valentini.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), summary judgment may be granted “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affida[1214]*1214vits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” “A fact is ‘material’ and precludes grant of summary judgment if proof of that fact would have [the] effect of establishing or refuting one of the essential elements of the cause of action or defense asserted by the parties, and would necessarily affect [the] application of appropriate principle^] of law to the rights and obligations of the parties.” Kendall v. Hoover Co., 751 F.2d 171, 174 (6th Cir. 1984) (quoting Black’s Law Dictionary 881 (6th Ed.1979)) (citations omitted). The Court must view the evidence in a light most favorable to the nonmovant as well as draw all reasonable inferences in the non-movant’s favor. See United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 994, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962); Bender v. Southland Cory., 749 F.2d 1205, 1210-11 (6th Cir.1984).

The movant bears the burden of demonstrating the absence of all genuine issues of material fact. See Gregg v. Allen-Bradley Co., 801 F.2d 859, 861 (6th Cir.1986). The initial burden on the mov-ant is not as formidable as some decisions have indicated. The moving party need not produce evidence showing the absence of a genuine issue of material fact; rather, “the burden on the moving party may be discharged by ‘showing’ — that is, pointing out to the district court — that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case.” Celotex Cory. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2554, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Once the moving party discharges that burden, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to set forth specific facts showing a genuine triable issue. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e); Gregg, 801 F.2d at 861.

To create a genuine issue of material fact, however, the nonmovant must do more than present some evidence on a disputed issue. As the United States Supreme Court stated in Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.,

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Bluebook (online)
776 F. Supp. 1211, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15668, 1991 WL 224211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/county-of-oakland-ex-rel-kuhn-v-city-of-detroit-mied-1991.